TENNIS analyst Gavin Mair (@gavinnightmair) returns with his best bets from Tuesday’s action on Day 8 at Wimbledon.
Monday’s tennis didn’t treat us too kindly. Donna Vekic couldn’t continue her early round form and was well beaten by Julia Goerges, who served strongly and sniffed out all nine break points created by her opponent.
Stefanos Tsitsipas and John Isner played out a serve dominated match. Two of the three sets were determined by tiebreaks… but, of course not the set that I chose to back that particular outcome.
Day 8 of Wimbledon will see the women’s quarter-final matches played. You could make a good argument for any of the eight players to come through their match-ups in what should be a very entertaining day of tennis.
I will focus on the match where I feel I can make the most convincing case for one player over the other.
Kiki Bertens v Julia Goerges | Tuesday 10th July 2018, 14:15 | BBC
This match features two players that have handed defeats to my daily selections at this year’s tournament – 20th seed Kiki Bertens and 13th seed Julia Goerges.
There is not a great deal to choose between the two players as the odds indicate. However, I believe an edge in experience and ability to cope under pressure can be given to Bertens.
Bertens has won a Grand Slam quarter-final in the recent past whilst this stage of a tournament is new to Goerges, who has stated in the media that she did not expect to be playing at this stage in what she considers her weakest Slam.
The players have met two times previously. In the first contest Bertens won 7/6 in the final set, whilst in their most recent meeting – a Premier level final in Charleston – Goerges had a stinker, winning only three games despite being a 3/5 favourite.
I think therefore that in this special match it is fair to assume Bertens will possibly keep the cooler head should the match become as close as the odds suggest it might.
I watched both of their Round of 16 matches and whilst neither have shown a grass court acumen in the past it was interesting to witness how they have adjusted their games to this specialist surface.
For Goerges everything depends on the accuracy and consistency of her big serve. In a rally you can still have some success by getting her off balance. Donna Vekic had some success in the rallies on Monday, but her composure when defending her serve on a big point was considerably less than Goerges.
Bertens, on the other hand, was doing whatever she wanted with the ball in the rallies. She was hammering the ball off both her forehand and backhand and outplayed what was the highest remaining seed Karolina Pliskova.
Prior to that Bertens did the same to Wimbledon specialist Venus Williams – whose record at this event needs no introduction.
This tournament offers a big opportunity for one of these players to make a Grand Slam semi-final. To me, the Dutch lady’s form has been very impressive throughout, showing an aptitude on grass that I never expected from her.
I believe she is value to defeat Goerges at 21/20 with Boylesports.
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Kiki Bertens v Julia Goerges – Kiki Bertens to win (21/20 Boylesports)
